Putting in a pond

[coneflower]

We or rather I am keen to put a pond in our small garden. The garden has a large full flower bed and the rest is laid to patio, so I am thinking of a raised pond. Can anyone give me tips/hints of what to avoid and how to do it as economically as possible?

what do you mean by raised? how will it be raised/what will the edges be? or do you plan to do something clever like use an old tin bath as a water feature?

ponds need to be deep enough to prevent them looking all liner and so they can generate a good ecosystem to stay clean and fresh.

Half barrel is good - economical too. Obviously you need to make sure it's watertight, maybe try a pond-oriented garden centre who will have sealed ones that won't leach gunk into the water.

I was thinking of raising it up so you can sit on the edge, I don't know what to make it out ..... sleepers, raised bed system with lining, probably about 1m squared ...need ideas really.

What type of pond are you trying to create? Do you want a pond that is more formal or do you want to attract wildlife? Are you planning on adding fish? How much planting do you want and of what type?

The more you tend towards a formal fish pond with no plants, the more important it will be to have a good pump/filtration system in place to keep it all healthy - if you're after lots of plants and wildlife with no fish you may not need filtration at all (although you will need to make sure the animals have somewhere to get in and out and the water may be green rather than crystal clear). What type of planting you want will also impact on the amount of filtration and also on the depth(s) of water you'd need.

So much to think about, no fish, happy to have wildlife in it, indeed we have frogs in the garden and they need somewhere! Want it to be as maintenance free as possible!

Have a look around here, here and here for some ideas.

If you'd like a more wildlife oriented pond then leaving one side "open" with a shallow slope between a bed and water would make life much easier for the wildlife. A reasonable water depth (0.5m min) would make it very unlikely to freeze solid in winter, whihc would be beneficial. Using something like sleepers with a flexible liner would probably be the easiest way of doing it - but you may need to find a way to pack sand between the sleepers and the liner to avoid punctures (possibly have an off-vertical side inside).

There is a lot to think about - but thinking about it now will save a lot of problem solving down the line...